Men’s Head Coach, Peter Fulton, has named a squad of 13 for this weekend’s Rothesay County Championship clash away to Northamptonshire.
There is one change to the squad that was defeated by Worcestershire last week at Lord’s, with left-arm quick, Noah Cornwell, coming in to replace Sebastian Morgan.
On Sebastian Morgan, Peter Fulton said:
“He’s had a great start to the season and has shown why he’s so highly regarded at Middlesex. However, he is still only 18, and we want to make sure we are not putting him under too much pressure physically so early in the season.”
Morgan is expected to be back in contention for selection for Middlesex’s clash against Durham starting on Friday 1 May.
Fulton will have Noah Cornwell, Ryan Higgins, Tom Helm, Toby Roland-Jones and Naavya Sharma to choose from to make up his seam attack in Northampton.
Leus du Plooy will captain the side, with Middlesex’s top order likely to look the same as the previous two fixtures. Joe Cracknell, who scored his maiden first-class century in this fixture last year, will once again keep wicket. With Sebastian Morgan’s non-involvement, Fulton may opt to bring Luke Hollman into the playing XI to provide added batting resource, alongside an additional spin option to support Zafar Gohar.
Northamptonshire head into the game on the back of two draws to start the season. In week one, they successfully batted out on the final day against Lancashire to save the draw. George Bartlett was the hero in that fixture, striking an unbeaten 95 off 197 balls to help see his side home.
Last week, against Kent, they were on the other side of a draw. With the Spitfires five wickets down during the morning session, trailing by 275 runs, following on, Northants looked set to secure a coveted 24-point victory on the road, however with rain falling, the visitors were only afforded a 15-over ‘mini-session’ in the evening to try wrap up the game.
The Rothesay County Championship Division Two table currently stands as follows:
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | Bat Bonus | Bowl Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Durham | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 37 |
| 2 | Lancashire | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 35 |
| 3 | Worcestershire | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 28 |
| 4 | Northamptonshire | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 28 |
| 5 | Middlesex | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 25 |
| 6 | Derbyshire | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 22 |
| 7 | Kent | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 19 |
| 8 | Gloucestershire | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Worcestershire deducted 2 points for slow over rate (vs Middlesex) | ||||||||
| Gloucestershire deducted 2 points for slow over rate (vs Middlesex) | ||||||||
Play is scheduled to get underway at 11 am on all four days. You will be able to follow the action live in the match centre on the Middlesex website and across our social media channels.
Middlesex squad to take on Northamptonshire:
Northamptonshire Men
Middlesex Men
